Means for attaching handles to stems



Jan. 19, 1937. E. H. MUELLER C' l MEANS FOR ATTACHING HANDLES TO STEMSFiled July 3', 1935 ATToRNEYs Patented Jan. 19, 1937 UNE''D STATES MEANSFOR ATTACHIN G HANDLES T STEMS Ervin H. Mueller, Grosse Pointe Park,Mich.

Application July 3, 1935, Serial No. 29,767

2 Claims.

This invention relates to means for detachably attaching to the end of ashaft or stem, a member having a socket or opening to receive said end,and more particularly to a construction especially 5 adapted for soattaching a handle formed of fragile material, to the stem of a gas cockor the like.

An object of the present invention is to simplify and make moreeffective, handle attaching means, the same being secured through theconstruction of the stem alone which is such as to effect a heavyfrictional contact between stem and walls of socket to provide a betterhold and eliminate all play of the handle in use.

as to insure against breakage of the stem parts, and to so arrange theseparts that one provides a rigid member and the other a yielding memberfulcrumed adjacent its free end upon said rigid member to strengthen theyielding member and increase its resistance to yielding, the relativepositions of said members being such as to further increase thefrictional hold of the handle to they stem, by applying the yieldingforce of the yielding member in a direction to force a flat side wall ofthe handle socket, into direct contact with a fiat side of the stem, thecross-sectional shape of socket and stem being of substantially D-formand so shaped that such forcing of said flats into contact, also causesa wedging action of stern within socket in a direction at right anglesto the direction of application of force of the spring or yieldablemember, whereby all play or looseness of the handle upon the stem inevery 35 direction, is eliminated.

Further objects and advantages of the present construction will morefully appear by reference to the following description and accompanyingdrawing in which Fig. l is a side elevation of a gas cock with a handleapplied to the stem thereof and shown partly in section, the same beingillustrative of an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1, with the handle partly in section;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section upon the line 3 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view of the handle detached; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the upper part of Fig. 1, with the handleremoved.

For the purpose of illustrating an application of the invention in use,an ordinary gas stove valve is shown comprising the body l, from whichthe stem 2 for operating the valve, projects and It is also an object toso construct the stem to which projecting end, a handle 3 of anysuitable conguration is applied.

To rigidly and detachably attach said handle to said stem, said handleis formed with a socket to receive an end portion of said stem, saidsocket being of substantially .D-form in cross-section, and said stemend portion having a similar crosssectional shape to litv within saidsocket, said end portion of said stern being cut away or slabb-ed off atone side to form a flat side 4 and a shoulder 5 at the inner end of saidsurface 4. Before being so formed, this end portion of the stem wascylindrical, and to form the flat il, the side of the cylinder is cuttransversely along a plane cutting the cylinder laterally of its axis,that is, the part removed is less than a halfcylinder and, therefore,the remaining end portion has an outer circular surface extending beyondthe longitudinal axial plane of the stem and meeting the side edges ofthe flat 4 with the width of this flat less than the diameter of suchcircle. This circular surface, in cross section, thus extends inwardlyor converges toward the flat, and as the socket t in the handle has alike cross sectional shape, when the handle is applied to this stem end,and handle and stem are moved relatively by force applied in a directionto bring they flats of the socket and stem into firm contact, there is awedging action of the stem in the socket due to such convergence of theportions 'l of the circular wall of the socket adjacent the meetingangles of said portions with the sides of the flat 8 of the socket wall.This wedging action eliminates all lost motion or play of the handle onthe stem in the direction of the plane of the flats il and 8, and bybringing these flats into rm contact, all play is eliminated in adirection at right angles to said plane.

To provide for an expansive yielding action of said stem end within saidhandle socket, to exert a force tending to move said handle and stemrelatively and force said ats l and 8 into Very rm frictional contactand wedge said stem between the converging portions l of the wall of thesocket, said stem is split longitudinally as at 9, inwardly from itsfree end to a point well inwardly of the plane of the shoulder 5, andthis split or cut extends across the stem at the side thereof oppositethe flat ll, thus forming a spring finger I0 at one side of said splitand a rigid post Il at the other side, the outer surface of said lingerbeing semicircu1ar to engage the Wall of the socket at the side thereofopposite the flat 8 and by its spring action, force said flats into rmfrictional contact, such spring action of said nger being increased bybending the same intermediate the ends of the split, away from the postII a limited amount, and by bending the free end of said finger towardthe post as at I2 with said end in engagement with the adjacent flatside of the post and at the end thereof, the free end of the lingerbeing thus fulcrumed as at I3 or bears upon said post, giving supportfor said end of the nger to further resist iiexure of said linger underpressure applied in forcing the stem into the handle so-cket, said bentend I3 of the finger moving longitudinally in frictional Contact withthe post under such compressive force against the finger, and givingsupport to said end to prevent the finger from being broken when heavytwisting or lateral strain is applied to the handle in use.

To further strengthen the nger against breakage under continued flexure,the slit 9 instead of extending longitudinally inward of the stemexactly parallel with the stem axis, extends at an inclination to suchaxes so that said finger is of increasing cross sectional area towardits inner end and outside the handle socket Where ordinarily thegreatest ilexure would occur and where it is most liable to break off.The bent end portion I2 of said finger by its engagement with the post II at the extreme outer end thereof, provides a bevel at the end of thestem to assist its entry into the handle socket, and as this outer endof the finger engages the substantially rigid post at its free end,yielding only intermediate its ends, it is in eiect, a solid stem havingample strength and rigidity to take the strain applied in operating thevalve and in attaching or detaching the handle.

Obviously changes in construction may be made within the scope of theappended claims, and such changes are contemplated.

What I claim is:-

l. The combination with a stem of substantially D-form in cross sectionand split longitudinally inward from its free end and transversely inthe direction of the width of the flat side thereof to form an integralspring finger having an arcuate outer side forming a continuation of theoutline of the stem in cross section, said finger being bent outwardlyintermediate its ends and inwardly at its free end to seat at the freeend f the stem to reinforce spring action and to form a taper at the endof the stem, and a handle formed with a socket of substantially D-forrnin cross section to receive the end portion of said stem with thearcuate side of said spring nger engaging the similarly curved wall ofthe socket to increase frictional engagement of stem with socket.

2. The combination with a stem of substantially D-orm in cross sectionand split longitudinally inward from its free end with said splitextending longitudinally of said stem at an inclination to the axis ofsaid stem, said split extending transversely of said stem substantiallyparallel with said flat side thereof to form a spring nger of increasingcross-sectional area towards its inner end at the curved side of saidstem opposite said flat side, said finger bearing at its free endagainst said stem, and a handle formed with a socket of substantiallyD-form in cross section to receive the end portion of said stem andlinger.

ERVIN H. MUELLER.

